To a usual person, the typical everyday type, having a gun pointed at your face would be promptly classified as ‘a big deal.’ The barrel of Novan’s Blazer- the name of the gun most commonly regarded in the Ring as the cheapest, most common, and the most blasé of them all- had a direct shot at his target’s skull. If he pulled the trigger now, the pirate captain known as Jenny McClain would be no more than a faint memory that was destined to be forgotten. Novan wanted to do it, he wanted to feel the release of the spring as he proved to the world that he wasn’t something to be laughed at, but that wasn’t how things worked on the Ring- and Jenny was very far from being a usual person.
The pirate captain raised the tip of her long-brimmed hat to get a better view of the man who now was so angrily asking for a fight. She took him in, eyes darting back and forth, and then her chest heaved as she let out a massive sigh. “Novan… ya really don’t wanna do this pal.”
Surprisingly, it would seem that his cohorts were agreeing with her. “Let it go, man!” Corpus said, tugging at the man’s arm. “You’ve heard the stories; you’ve told me a couple of them yourself!”
Short-Barrel John-John agreed and nodded his head way too hard. “Yeah-yeah! You know better than us what that dame is capable of! Remember Tember-Kil?”
Novan turned and spat on the ground. “Of fuckin’ course I remember him, he owed me 30 cred before the incident!”
Unsurprisingly, the group, feeling a lot like spectators at an extremely violent show, had no idea what anyone was talking about. The three men before them were aliens, like how everyone is in space. They were rather human-like in comparison to a lot of the others, Alex thought. The only main difference from the norm was that they all had a purple pattern across their face- almost like a rash that spread from their cheek to the side of their neck. The pattern looked spikey and rough, almost itchy- as if a Christmas sweater had gotten way out of hand.
Sophia stood beside Jenny, wondering whether or not she should slink away slowly into the shadows somewhere- kinda like how Neil was doing at the moment. She was the first to cave and ask a question. “Tember-Kil?” She echoed the name, surprising herself that she got it right on the first try.
The pirate captain cocked her head to the side. “Ol’ friend of mine, don’t talk anymore though.”
“Why?”
“’Cuz, I shot him in the head.”
“Oh.”
“The scraper challenged her to a duel,” Corpus explained. “Never had any sense, he did! One second, they’re there on the street, ready to fire, next Tember-Kil’s just a splotch on the ground!”
“He’s exaggeratin.’” Jenny murmured under her breath. “They always do.”
“Shut up!” Novan shouted, his voice resembling that of a winey child. “I ain’t care about all that! I asked this bitch a question, and now I’m wantin’ an answer!”
“Why not just take the shot?” Sophia called back. “What’s stopping you? Scared?”
The man’s face went blood red. “I ain’t scared! I ain’t ever scared!” His gun drifted over to point at Sophia- the girl regretted her life choices for a moment. “’Cuz, you good for nothin’ scraper, that’s how it works on the Ring- ain’t no one tell ya that?”
“No actually.” Timothy chimed in softly. “Everyone’s been rather vague about the ins and outs, I’ve been meaning to ask someone about it but the only people we’ve met so far are our kidnappers and Havile and I’m afraid he didn’t really have a mouth.”
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Jenny couldn’t help but chuckle and shake her head. “You guys really are helpless, ain’t ya. Well, here’s the lowdown kiddies so listen up- ‘cuz I ain’t saying this twice. You over there, get back here already, you ain’t goin’ nowhere!”
Neil felt a bit embarrassed as he crawled out from where he was hiding behind a bin. “Hey, don’t blame me for not wanting to get shot in the crossfire!”
“So, there’s three rules on the Ring that everyone has to follow. One: No killin’ unprovoked- we have this rule ‘cuz this is a place of business ya see, it ain’t good commerce when your customers keep getting’ shot. Kill someone without fair warning and you’re as good as dead, Mr. Ham will see to that! Two: If you’ve gotta disagreement settle it yourself and if you can’t, Mr. Ham will take care of it- but don’t expect for both parties to get out with their brains intact. And finally, three: Don’t worry about the Janitor.”
“The who?” Alex repeated, wanting to pay attention.
“Shut the hell up!” Novan shouted, impatiently. “Now are you done playing schoolteacher, or are you gonna walk away like a coward?”
The pirate chuckled and raised her hands up in the air. “Look, I don’t want the hassle, alright? I’ll give ya a chance right now to just go, tuck your tail and skedaddle, consider it my good deed of the day.”
“Or what?”
“Or I gonna have to accept your offer, and believe me buddy- that’s the last thing you want.”
The trio looked at each other anxiously. John-John couldn’t help but sway even more on his toes than usual, giving him the impression of a bug desperately clinging onto the side of a speeding car. He looked up at his friend and bit his lip- a little too hard, it stung. Corpus couldn’t help but back away from the scene, if his friend wanted to get killed that’s on him, he sure as hell wasn’t getting caught in it. The man with the gun thought for a minute, but clearly, that wasn’t long enough. “I ain’t going nowhere, bitch!”
Timothy hadn’t been out much in his life admittedly, but even he knew that those were fighting words. Slowly he crept up behind his friend Sophia and tapped her on the shoulder. He gestured to the side and took her hand, leading her away from Jenny McClain who was cracking her knuckles- with her hands being metal the sound was extra crunchy.
“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn ya.” The pirate spoke, her hat lowering and hiding her face. “I accept.”
Cautiously, Timothy reached over and grabbed Alex’s hand and led him to the side. He didn’t have to worry about Neil, he was already there ducking behind the bin again.
“On three?” Novan asked, his smug grin not quite able to hide his anxiousness.
“Sure, consider it your last request.”
“1…”
Novan’s hand shook on his Blazer. Right now, his gun was already raised in the air with a clear shot of her head, she didn’t even have her hand in its gun form but yet he could still remember all the stories about her…
“2…”
The one about the Astroslug on Arcania29, the one where she took down an entire squad of Hypersuits in under a minute, he’d heard rumors that she was the one who bagged Thaddaeus Calli- the most infamous bounty hunter in the last decade- with a single shot. But no, those were all just stories… just things he heard at the cantina.
“3…”
But if all those stories were fake, why was he so afraid of her?
It happened quicker than the eye could catch, the flick of a metal wrist, the pull of a trigger, the slight step to the side, the two bright flashes of light, the sound of something sizzling. Novan looked down at himself and found that the noise was actually coming from him- his chest to be precise. Well, it used to be his chest, now it was a giant hole. His innards had been cooked, medium rare if you want to get technical, and the sides of his skin were melting away like butter in a pan.
“Strange…” said Jenny, her face distorted by the smoke wafting from her hand. “I don’t remember that being there a second ago, do you?”
Novan didn’t answer, he was too busy dying. His body dropped to the floor like a very dead sack of potatoes, his friends exchanged looks. There was silence in the air, perhaps the world was just in awe of what Jenny had accomplished.
“Well…” Corpus said, gripping his hands together awkwardly. “I guess we should be going, wouldn’t you say so John-John?”
The shaky man nodded like a deranged bobblehead. “Yeah-yeah, going…” Tails figuratively firmly tucked between their legs, the men darted off down the street.
The group, who were all clutching each other in the corner, watched as Jenny strolled over to where the corpse lay still sizzling on the ground. The pirate turned as she pointed a finger at it, teeth exposed in a sideways grin. “You see girl? This is what happens when a little dog yaps at the wrong person!”